The Meaning of Blood
by GBTA-Geek
Summary: As one agent fights for his life, another is reeling from an unexpected discovery, will the team and surrounding families survive the discovery?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 1**

"We're losing him!" The nurse watching the monitoring equipment warns

"Not on my watch, we're not!" Doctor Pitt replies, only just hearing the statement as he stepped through the door of the operating theatre, having been called to a patient that would need help with a breathing problems, he spoke directly to the emergency surgeon "What we got?"

"Male agent shot, twice, once in the abdomen and once in his upper back right….."

"How the hell did the shooter get him in the front and back?"

"…..We got extensive bleeding from the abdominal wound, the collapsed right lung's a problem, but that's not the worst part" the emergency doctor explained as he continued working.

"Do I want to know?" Brad queried as he looked into the open abdomen seeing the damage caused by one of the shots

"He's blood type is AC negative, we only had two pints, both donate by the man himself last week, we don't have any more spare and there's no record of familial match"

"Crap, how the hell are you keeping him alive"

"Suction, cleaning and transferring back in, it's our only option right now with no blood possible donor, but it's a slow process and he's bleeding out faster than we can get it back in"

"AC negative is less only found in less than a hundredth of the population, Doctor Woods, there's no way we're going to get a blood donor" Brad stated

"Tell me something I don't already know!" replied the other doctor just as the machines went haywire and the heart monitor flat-lined

"He's in v-fib." The monitoring nurse yelled

"Pressure?" Woods question

"Defibrillator" Brad yelled at one of the other nurses

"Can't get a reading." The monitoring nurse replied

"Charging." The second nurse informed as Brad rounded the surgical table and grabbed the panels "are both bullets out?"

"Yes - Epinephrine, 1mg." Woods ordered

"Epinephrine in."

"360, clear!" Brad barked

"No inversion. Again."

"Charging."

"360 joules. Clear!"

"Damn, still nothing, Push lidocaine, resume CPR."

"The last of the blood we've got is ready." Another nurse informed

"Inject it now, hit him again."

"Charging."

"Clear!"

"Damn it, he's still in v-fib. Resume CPR."

"Epinephrine, 1mg IV, again."

"Second dose, Epinephrine's in."

"Charging."

"Brad?"

"I'm not losing him." Brad stated before turning his attention to the man on the bed "Come on, kid fight this."

"Resuming CPR"

"Charging."

"360, clear!"

"Damn it, still nothing. Again."

"Doctor, maybe..."

"No. Again."

"Charging."

"360 joules. Clear."

"Yes! We've got a sinus rhythm, it's weak but it's there, let's get him closed up and make it fast, he can't go through that again!" The monitoring nurse stated.

NCIS

_Twenty minutes earlier_

Gibbs walked out of his favourite coffee shop, Agent Balboa was right next to him giving him an update on the overnight, protection detail for Vance and his family due to Lee Wuan Kai sudden appearance, but his attention is suddenly taken up at the sight of one of his own agents walking towards them, currently from the other side of the street nearly a block away, with a young girl.

"What the hell is he doing?" Gibbs queries, he had left all his agents at the office with plenty of work to be getting on with.

"Looks like he's taking a coffee break, with his new girlfriend" Balboa answered with a smile "about time the kid got some luck" the two men watched as the couple turn to face each other

"Okay that doesn't look so good" Balboa says, as it looks like the agent is seriously questioning the young woman over something.

"Damned right it doesn't" Gibbs states, seeing his agent suddenly stiffen holding his hands out low as in an act of someone surrendering, as he starts to pick up the pace to intercept and intervene if necessary, there nothing Gibbs can do at this distance but watch as everything goes into slow motion.

The pair are a little over ten metres away when the young girl suddenly falls into the agent's arms, the agent reacts like he's been punch in the gut as he looks down, supporting the fallen women, his knees begin buckle, just as he jerks head and shoulders backwards, send him head first back towards the pavement.

Time snaps back into place for Gibbs as he leaps into action, chucking his much needed coffee, as he runs to his agent, throwing himself on his knees just barely in time, as he catches his agent's head in his out stretched hands just before it would have hit the ground.

People are screaming and diving for cover, Balboa's at their side in an instant, crouching down to assist, already on the phone gun drawn as he sweeps the area "Agent down! Shot's fired! I repeat agent down!"

NCIS

"So he's got himself a girlfriend" The male agent smiles as he looks over his female colleague shoulder, having made his way round to her desk

"You already knew that" Ziva retorts as she looks up from the information she was trying to study

"Yes but he didn't give any details and then she just turns up out of the blue, like that, don't you think that's a little odd?"

"No I do not, should you not be working?"

"Excellent question David and the answer is yes you should all be working" Vance states from the balcony where he had been watch them, before making his way downstairs to join in the bullpen

"We are, Sir" The male agent informs as picks up the plasma's control and pull's up the latest information they have for the direct to see.

Agent Taylors phone rings in the bullpen adjacent to team Gibbs, he listens for a moment before slamming the phone down and shouting so that all the agents on the floor can hear him "Shot fired! Agent down!"

Chaos erupts across the floor, as the agent of Taylor's team grab their go bags

"You need us?" The male agent questions as both he and Ziva go to grab their bags

"It's your man that down" Taylor informs

As the pair hurry to meet up with the other team the throw each other concerned looks, both asking the same thing as all six agents enter the elevator "Gibbs?"

"Nope" is the only reply heard in the bullpen as the doors slam to a close.


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow!, **you guys are amazing and appear to be liking this story a lot, thank you to all that have favourites, follows and reviews. I noted a couple of you point out about the blood type not existing, I am aware, but this is fiction so I am using a little creative licensing, I apologise for not mentioning this before, though only to the people who commented nicely about it.

Oh and I am sure there a rule about assumptions ;o)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 2**

It takes only a couple of minutes for the group to reach the crime scene, a jacketless Gibbs is kneeling next to his downed agent, applying pressure to his abdomen with both his hands using his jacket to help stem the bleeding. Balboa is also jacketless, his left hand firmly pressing down on the agents right shoulder, the sleeve of his own jacket only just visible between the paving slaps and the agent body, whilst he continues to scan the immediate area, gun still drawn and aiming in the general direction of the area behind the fallen agent at the time of the shooting.

"Gibbs?" Taylor queries.

"Probie! Oh man!" Tony DiNozzo exclaims as he drops to his knees next to Balboa, opposite Gibbs, to try and help.

Gibbs looks up, registering the arrival of the other agents, and nods his head in the direction that Balboa is still aiming at "Sniper watch your backs!"

Immediately the agents of Taylor's team turn, covering their flanks and watching for any movements, whilst Ziva takes more notice of the abdominal wound and covers the area in that direction, whilst Balboa, moves off to support Ziva having seen Ducky closing in.

"Jethro!" Ducky calls as he and his assistant also arrive on the scene, just as sirens can be heard in the distance "Oh my heavens."

Gibbs refuses to move as Ducky drops by his side, Palmer starts to move toward the young female only to be stopped cold by Balboa's words.

"Don't bother she's dead."

"Are you certain?" Palmer questions.

"Checked her myself, shot in the back straight in the heart." Balboa confirms

"How is that even possible?" Ziva questions just as the paramedics arrived, along with multiple police officers, and start assisting Ducky forcing Gibbs and Tony to reluctantly move out the way.

"Three shooters" Gibbs addressed his own agency's personnel as well as the police officers, his anger understandable to all those present as he points out roughly known positions "The first one from over there, in the bushes, kills the female, the second from the dead female, probably an accidental shooting caused by her getting shot, the third, a sniper, up on that roof somewhere."

"Are you certain Gibbs?" Taylor questioned as he looks over from his position, doubt clearly visible on his face.

"Ziva stand here" Gibbs instructs pointing to a position directly in front Tony, turning her so she is directly facing him, with her back to Gibbs.

"When I or Balboa tap you, you've been shot, react accordingly understood" Gibb orders, as he placed one hand in the space between his agents.

"Yes Gibbs" Ziva answers unquestioningly.

Gibb's then demonstrates the events to Agent Taylor and his team, tapping Ziva on the back, as instructed, she reacts accordingly falling forward knocking into Gibbs hand, which in its turn hits Tony's abdomen, before agent Balboa hits him just below his shoulder blade, where the second shot penetrated, whilst Gibbs angrily turns to Taylor.

"Any questions?!"

"No agent Gibbs" Taylor answers immediately, as Gibbs turns back to Tony and Ziva

"The Director?" Gibbs asked

"Still abroad the yard, boss what happened?" Tony replied immediately

Gibbs ignored the question, not because he wanted to, but because at this moment in time he had no answers he could give "Get back there, Lee Wuan Kai needs to be found and stopped"

"But, McGee….." Ziva started to argue only to be cut off by Ducky calls from the doors of the ambulance "Jethro!"

Without another word Gibbs immediately leaves the rest of the group where they're standing, joining the ambulance driver in the front, albeit the passenger seat, as Ducky, Jimmy and second paramedic get in the back.

Once the ambulance has left, Balboa walks over to Taylor "Never question agent Gibbs like that again, you got me!" before he turns to the remaining members of Gibbs team "Look I know you want to be with Tim, but right now there's nothing you can do for him and Gibbs is half right"

The confused looks he receives from Tony and Ziva makes Balboa smirk "We need to find Lee Wuan Kai, but we also have to find the person or persons responsible for this, it may or may not be linked, go, Taylor and I will work this scene"

Realising Balboa had a point, Tony and Ziva reluctantly head back to the yard.

NCIS

Vance closes his phone having just gotten an update from Balboa about the incident involving McGee and a lecture for leaving without telling anyone, after having driven back to his house having forgotten some important paper work. Getting out of the car he notices that the agents on protection detail aren't were they're supposed to be, so he calls out to his wife the moment he enters the door.

"Jackie? Where are the agents? They're never supposed to leave the… Sweetheart? What's going on?"

"I'm okay" Jackie replies, coming into the open plan living area closely followed by Kai.

"Hello, Leon." Kai greets, stepping round Jackie

"Where are my children?" Vance demands

"Gone. I waited for them to leave, after all this isn't about them" Kai informs

"And the agents?" Vance questions

"Tranquilized. They won't be happy when they wake up, but considering the alternative" Vance reasons as he watches his wife back into the dining area towards the shelving where the box which holds his back-up weapon is kept

"You're changing, Kai." Vance states keeping his uninvited guest attentions

"Not enough. It's too late." Kai informs

"Let my wife go." Vance requests

"In time. She's lucky to have you." Kai replies

"Was it you that tried to kill one of my agents?" Vance questions still trying to put the pieces together, at the moment it's the only explanation he can think of

"No" Kai replies

"Then who?" Vance questions raising an eyebrow as he express his doubt, Jackie is now slowly and quietly opening the box

"Her real name was Juliet Tippon, I do not know what she has been calling herself whilst here. She was born in South Africa and worked for her own government before turning to freelance. I found out that the North Koreans hired her to kill me, so I killed her first. I believe she was going to try and use him to find out where I was and your agent didn't deserve to die" Kai answers

"You normally work alone, so who'd you team up with?" Vance ask as he see Jackie getting his back up out of the box

"You should know better Leon, I take it you're referring to whoever was on the roof, I have no idea who they were or who they were after, I certainly wasn't working with anyone and I doubt Juliet would have been either"

"But you did kill Doctor and Pak Su JiIt" It was a statement not a question from Vance this time

"Yes"

"Doesn't have to end like this." Vance states, telling Jackie he wants to try and talk Kai down first, as she starts to aim the gun

"My life ended 30 years ago. You think it matters what happens now? I'm counting on you, Leon."

"You're counting on me for what?"

"To do what you did before." Kai answers showing Vance the wound from the shot he fired years ago

"Everyone said I missed." Vance recalls a little surpresed "You should be dead."

"I was already dead." Kai replied

"Stop this. Please. I can help you" Vance implores, as Jackie nods she's ready

"I can't."

"Just being there all these years, you already have." Kai replies "You have to finish it, Leon. Do it for me. For your partner."

Before Vance could reply a single shot rang out.

NCIS

"Okay that it, that the best we can do" Dr Woods states before informing the attending nurse of his wishes "Let's get him settled in recovery, I want constant observation around the clock until he more stable.

"It's a long shot but I'm going to see if any other local hospitals have some AC negative blood available" Brad informed as he watched McGee being manoeuvred out of the operating theatre.

"I need to go and speak to the men that came in without young patient" Dr Woods replied.

"Exactly who did come in?" Brad asked.

"I only got two names, a Doctor Mallard and an Agent Gibbs" Dr Woods replied.

"I'll join you, maybe we can find out how this happen" Brad replies, it was time to get some answers of their own, to help them with ensuring they had all the people in place, to support their patient.


	3. Chapter 3

As mention previous I am using a little creative licensing in regards to the blood type

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 3**

Sat on a hard plastic chair in the waiting room, Gibbs was becoming increasingly frustrated and concerned, things had rapidly gotten out of hand and his youngest agent was now fighting for his life for reasons unknown. Being at the hospital meant that he wasn't aware of the events that were currently unfolding on their current case, but he wasn't holding that against Tim, no right now Tim's safety was just as import as the Directors, which is why he was there, doing one of the thing he hated most - waiting.

It wasn't that he didn't care about what was going on with Vance and Lee Wuan Kai, but at least they had an inclining as to why that was going on and there were other agents working the case, Tony and Ziva included. With Tim it was different, there was a possibility it was all connected of course, which would make sense, but Gibbs wasn't about to assume anything and if it wasn't then they had another problem on their hands. Right now and from the start of this whole debacle with the director, Gibbs was just grateful that Abby Sciuto was away on leave, on holiday with her adoptive family somewhere in Europe.

"Doctor Mallard, Agent Gibbs" Brad's greeting brought Gibbs out of his musings and he rose along with Ducky and Palmer to talk with the two doctors who had just made their way into the waiting room, shaking hand with Gibbs, Brad continued on "First let me introduce my colleague Doctor woods, he has been the lead surgeon"

Quick and polite greetings are exchanged between all of the men, before Brad continues on "Firstly let me quite clear, that as of right now anything can happen, the surgery itself has been complicated enough, without the additional complications of Agent McGee's rare blood type of AC negative. Now he's currently on….."

"I'm sorry did you just say AC negative?" Jimmy question hesitantly, receiving a glare from Gibbs for interrupting, but in his studies he hadn't heard of this blood type.

"Yes, yes I did, it's the rarest blood type there is; you properly haven't covered it yet on your course. This blood type exists in less than point one of a percent of the world's population. Now as I was saying Tim is currently on a ventilator, which is aiding his breathing because of the damage to his right lung, we have done as much as we can, his abdomen is severally damaged, due to the closeness of that shot and it diagonal path, but until Tim stabilises, or a blood donor can be found, it is too risky for us to continue with anymore surgery."

"Meaning?" Gibbs growled

Brad goes to answer, but Doctor Wood gets there first "Meaning that as of right now we're keeping Tim heavily sedated and giving him lots of fluids along with antibiotics, in order to give his body the time and help it needs as it works to reproduce the blood that has been losted. This is very risky, we will be monitoring his condition very closely over the next twenty four to forty eight hours. Unfortunately there is no guarantees that this move will work, and the risk of infection is extremely high. Even if Tim does become stabile enough for us to take him back to surgery, there is still the problem of find a suitable donor"

"But you can use other blood, right?" Palmer questioned and was about to continue on only to be stopped by Ducking cutting in before he could get going again.

"Mr Palmer please, I will explain everything later, but it's just not that simple with this type of blood work"

"Duck?" Gibbs questions

"Let me Doctor Mallard" Brad offers as he turns to Gibbs "AC negative is not like other blood types, the only type of blood we can use is AC negative. The only other viable option is the blood plasma of a relative, preferably male, which has gone through Plasmapheresis"

The blank looks on Gibbs and Palmers faces told Ducky he would need to explain, but Jimmy jumped in before Ducky could get started, completely changing the course of the conversation.

"Well that easy, we just need to get his dad down here" Palmer jumped in happily

"Not that simple am afraid" Ducky replies sadly

"Something you want to tell us Duck?" Gibbs demands

"Am afraid, Jethro that Admiral McGee is not Tim's biological father, in fact I believe he is of no blood relation what so ever"

NCIS

Tony and Ziva, arrived at the Directors house following a call from the man himself, just as agent Fornell and Sacks were walking up the drive way.

"Well if isn't Tweedledee and Tweedledum" DiNozzo stated with a smirk

"Funny DiNutso, funny" Fornell replied, Ron Sacks threw Tony a dark look and was about to reply with a cutting remark of his own when the front door opened

"Agent Fornell, Sacks thank you for coming, you had all better come in" Vance gestured standing to the side, Tony and Ziva stayed back allowing Fornell and Sacks to enter first

"Any news?" Vance questioned as his agents made their way inside, neither Tony nor Ziva needed to guess what the man was asking about

"Not yet, sir" Ziva replied

"Okay then, let's get this side of things wrapped up shall we?" Vance stated indicating towards the lounge area off the hallway were Lee Waun Kai body currently laid

"News on what, wait a minute were Gibbs?" Fornell questioned

NCIS

"Care to explain Duck?" Gibbs questioned demandingly, this was the first he'd heard this piece of information, he certainly didn't remember reading about it in his agents file

"It's complicated Jethro and I was told in confidence, though I will admit I did not know about young Timothy's rare blood type, if I had I would have certainly ensure that he made regular donations, so that a supply would be on hand" Ducky replied, something in his voice told Gibbs to let it go at least for now, so he just inclined his head, silently telling his long term friend he'd wait, at least until they were in private.

"He did Dr Mallard" Dr Woods informed "Thankfully it appears Agent McGee donated quite regularly, in fact he came in at the end of last week and donated, we had two pints readily available, but unfortunately due to the nature of his injuries and the amount of blood loss, it just wasn't enough"

"We need access" Gibbs informed, just as Doctor Wood's pager went off

"Gotta go, another emergency patient just arrived, I'll leave you with Dr Pitt" he informed before scurrying away.

"I was expecting that, we've moved him into a room within ICU, so if you like to follow me" Brad replied, gesturing for them to follow as he started walking "Now I will warn you that you need to be prepared to get out the way if anything happens, the health of my patient comes first, any arguments I will not hesitate to have you thrown out, do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, however my top concern right now isn't just his health, but his safety" Gibbs responded

"Care to explain agent Gibbs?" Brad asked

"Right now Tim could be someone who just got in the way, there's a trained assassin taking an unhealthy interest in our Director or he could be a target of a person/persons unknown for a completely different reason" Gibbs replied

"Meaning either way he could still be in danger" Brad nodded his understanding, years of working with military and federal employ's gave a person a certain insight

Arriving at Tim's room, Gibbs looked at Jimmy and motioned him to stay outside, the younger man nodded his understanding and sat down on a chair on the opposite side of the corridor, just outside the room, before Ducky and Gibbs followed Brad into the room.

"Oh Timothy" Ducky stated sadly "Look at what they've done to you"

Gibbs walked round the bed, taking everything in, the machinery was expected of course and thanks to the earlier information, so was the ventilator, but even with the knowledge of Tim's injuries the amount thick wadding on top off his agent's abdomen, along with numerous tubes was a surprise. Coming up next to the bed, on what would be Tim's left hand side, Gibbs ran his fingers lightly over Tim's forehead and down the right side of his face, cupping his cheek gently in his hand, before leaning forward and whispering in his ear.

"You keep fighting, McGee, you hear? That's an order" Gibbs informed, before he backed off, walking over to the chair in that was in the corner of the room, grabbing hold and moving it to the side of the bed, sitting down and he placed his hand back where it had been moments before "Your safe, son and I'm going to keep you that way"


	4. Chapter 4

As mention previous I am using a little creative licensing in regards to the blood type, I have also mixed fact with fiction in this chapter

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

Chapter 4

"Thank you Director, we'll contact you if we have any more questions" Tobias Fornell informed as he wrapped up getting the formal statements from the Director and his wife, he was thankful that at least Jackie Vance had been completely co-operative unlike her husband who was a little less forth coming as to the reason why a North Korean assassin would even have been targeting him and his family in the first place. To cap it all of DiNozzo, who was supposed to be helping him, seemed extremely agitated and distracted.

Vance just nodded before making his way back over to his wife and wrapping her up in his arms, as Fornell watched the ME from the FBI remove the body of Lee Waun Kai from Vance's living room, only to be escorted by out of the house by Ziva David and Ron Sacks, before he turned to DiNozzo to get some answers.

"Alright now that's out of the way, are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?" Fornell demanded as the senior field agent checked his phone again, the umpteenth time Fornell had seen do so in the last couple of minutes

"Nothing?" Ziva questioned as she walked back through the door and heading directly for them

"Nothing" Tony answered Ziva before turning to Fornell "Gibbs isn't here because he's at the hospital"

"And you're just telling me this now!" Fornell growled, believing the only reason Gibbs would be at the hospital was because he was injured, and the injury would have to be bad to keep him there whilst the Director of NCIS was in danger.

"Fornell, McGee was shot this morning" Ziva informed, as she realised what the older man must have been thinking, just as Ron Sacks re-entered the house

"McGee, as in the Geek?" Sacks questioned "Didn't think you guys let him out in the field"

NCIS

"Talk to me Duck" Gibbs requested as Ducky finally put down McGee's chart, even though he never took his eyes of his youngest agent

"About what exactly Jethro?" Ducky responded as he sat down, his eyes trailing over the prone form of the young agent currently on the bed in between to two older men

"Let's start with why you were shocked about McGee's blood type" Gibbs answered

"Aren't you?" Ducky retorted a slight hint of anger in his voice

"Yes, but I should be, you not so much" Gibbs answered

"Why not, Timothy withheld information, information I will point out that in these situations is critical"

"You sure, wouldn't it have been in his medical records?" Gibbs questioned, completely deflating Ducky's agreement, to which Ducky sighed, "Duck?"

"Your right of course" Ducky replies "However, I'm more angry at myself as I've never seen Timothy's complete medical file Jethro" Ducky informed

"Why on earth not?"

"Because part of it is sealed, and I have never had the reason to have the seal broken" Ducky explained

"Why would he have sealed records Duck?" Gibbs

"I don't know Jethro, and you know how private young Timothy can be, even though I have made attempts to find out, he has never enlighten me, but I will be requesting that the file is opened immediately I get back to headquarters" Ducky stated with determined resolve.

Both men fell back into their quiet contemplation as they watched over their young charge

NCIS

Tony and Ziva brought the FBI agents up to speed on the morning's events, before they all drove separately back to NCIS. Understandably Fornell and Sacks had both been in shock about what they've been told, now however, as they sat in Director Vance's office, having had time to digest the information an argument started over the jurisdiction of the case, with the FBI believing the case should be theirs rather than NCIS's

"How the hell do you work that out?" Tony yells as he glares at Ron Sacks, for bring up the question of authority in the first place, whilst Fornell talks with someone on his mobile phone, keeping his voice as quiet as possible, cupping his free hand over his left ear in an attempt to block out the commotion taking place

"Simple, all federal agent shootings are the territory of the FBI" Ron replies evenly, not missing a beat, whilst ignoring Tony's glare. Tony's just about to start up again when Vance loudly clears his throat, silently gesturing for the two men to sit back down.

"Be that as it may Agent Sacks, we will be taking the lead on the shooting of Agent McGee, we will of course allow you and Agent Fornell to assist. However I believe we can all be rather certain that he was not the intended target" Vance states in a tone that tells everyone present he doesn't expect to be challenged, just as Fornell finishes his call

"Unfortunately Director Vance, it's not going to be that simple and we will be doing more than assisting" Fornell informs as he rubs his hand over his face before holding out, to request that they let him finish talking

"I have just spoken with a colleague of mine along with our director and from what I have just been informed, it looks like Timothy may have very well been the target"

NCIS

"Okay, so tell me more about this plasma thingamajig" Gibbs requested once again breaking the silence

"Plasmapheresis" Ducky replied knowingly, smiling at his friend attempt to recall what he had been told by Doctor Pitt "This is a procedure where the blood cell and are separated from the plasma. This procedure is usually used for people who have an immune related is order and there are various methods that can be used, but that's not important. What is important is getting the plasma from a male relative"

"Why?"

"Because it can help with alleviate blood loss Timothy has suffered, we will be able to give it to Timothy as a substitute, it will of course leave him very anaemic"

"But why a male relative, has it anything to do with the AC Negative blood type?"

"Yes Jethro. From the little that is known with regard to this, it would appear that AC negative blood is only found within the male side of the population. In most cases the father of the child is also AC negative, however there has been some cases where both biological parents have a negative blood type or the female has AB negative blood and one of them has a relative parent or grandparent with AC negative blood"

Whilst Ducky had been talking, Brad Pitt had quietly re-entered the room and was checking on Timothy's states, so he added to the information be given

"With the hormonal balance needs differing in men and women, most doctor's in these kinds of cases prefer to use male blood, however if the only relation found is female they will use it, I don't know why considering they don't worry about it with other blood types"

"U-huh" Gibbs replied "and the rest?"

"Jethro I already told you what I know was communicated to me in confidence" Ducky replied "However, considering the circumstances, I believe our young man would rather I ask for forgiveness later, than withhold information that may be necessary to help him with his current predicament"


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

Author's Note: I'm just going to take a moment to clarify a couple of things that have people confused so here's a list of what is fact and what is fiction so far in the story

Blood type AC negative – fiction

The need to use a male relative's blood – fiction

Plasmapheresis – Real, though the use of it in this story is fictional, the description of the separation of the blood cells and plasma is real.

The rest is obviously from my imagination…..

Regarding Ellie's comment – This is not an MPreg story

Thank you to the guest reviewer who commented on some of the other reviews and set a few things straight for me – I appreciate the support.

And last but by no means least - a massive thank you to Gottahavemyncis for becoming my beta - Yippee!

**Chapter 5**

Ducky looked over Timothy's prone form before he turned to face Gibbs; he studied the man for a moment thinking of the best way to inform him of the little he knew of Tim's family history and he was just about to start when Gibbs attention was taken elsewhere, his right hand immediately going for his gun as he held up his left hand indicating for Ducky to wait. Turning to see what caught the other man's attention Ducky noticed that there appeared to be a lot of movement outside. Gibbs raised himself from his seat just before the door opened and the remaining members of team Gibbs, Vance, Palmer, Fornell and Sacks walked in the room.

Brad was the first to voice his concerns as the new arrivals took stock of what was going on with their injured friend. "Guys, look I know you're all concerned, but really you can't all be in here right now."

"I appreciate your concern Doctor Pitt." Vance stated with all his authority. "However we all need to discuss a serious development and as Agent Gibbs will wish to remain here, then here is where the discussion needs to take place. I however would like you to be included in those discussions as Agent McGee's primary consultant."

"Secondary actually, Doctor Woods is Tim's primary consultant." Brad corrected.

"Yes but unfortunately he is unavailable; I have just spoken with the head of the hospital on the way here and requested your involvement due to your ongoing connection with Agent Gibbs' team."

"I see, I think. However, I will give you all the same warning as I gave Agent Gibbs that is, that you need to be prepared to get out of the way if anything happens. The health of my patient comes first, any arguments and I will not hesitate to have you thrown out, am I making myself clear?"

"Perfectly." Vance informed as he turned to Gibbs.

Gibbs for his part, although he'd relaxed his stance, had been taking in the demeanor of the rest of his team along with the looks he was getting from Fornell and wasn't at all happy with the twisting feeling he was getting in his gut; he waited only until Vance and Brad finished their discussion before demanding an explanation as to why the FBI where in the room.

"What the hell's going on Leon?" Gibbs growled "What are you doing here, when Lee Waun Kai is still on the loose?"

"Jethro!" Ducky admonished.

"It's alright Doctor Mallard, if you must know Gibbs, Kai is dead."

"Dead?!" Ducky asked in amazement; prior to the incident with Tim the team hadn't even managed to locate the North Korean and now just a few hours later they were being informed of her death.

"Sitrep!" Gibbs ordered as he turned to his senior field agent. DiNozzo swallowed hard, he had known Gibbs would have hated not to have been informed sooner but they'd had their reasons.

"Boss, Jackie Vance killed Lee Waun Kai late this morning, we would have called but thought it best that you stay here with McGee, so we called in a favour." Tony explained, looking a little sheepish towards the end as he indicated at Fornell and Sacks.

"Uh-huh, that doesn't explain why they're here now though does it?" Gibbs countered.

"Fornell." Vance stated simply indicating he was going to let the FBI agent inform Gibbs about what had been discovered. It was then that Gibbs noticed that his friend was looking somewhat uncomfortable, like a man being lead to the slaughter so Gibbs just tilted his head as he raised a questioning eyebrow; the man in question took a moment to clear his throat.

"Well there appears to have been a slight hiccup in communication."

"A hiccup?" Gibb questioned.

"It's a metaphor." Sacks jumped in.

"Actually hiccups are…" Palmer started but he stopped just as quickly having received multiple glares from all the older members of the group.

"A miscommunication Jethro" Tobias informed.

"Uh-huh," Gibbs sounded anything but convinced, "Get to the damn point already will ya!"

"All right we, as in the FBI, dropped the damned ball!" Tobias stated in exasperation. "Jason Everett escaped from prison two days ago."

"Who the hell's Jason Everett?" Gibbs demand, completely confused.

"A mass murderer that a ten year old McGee apparently helped put behind bars!" Vance stated, obviously still angered at not having known about this before, as he threw down a file on the patients table, at the end of Tim's bed.

"Enough!" Brad commanded. "Lower your voices or leave, or do I need to remind you this is a hospital?"

The group went silent as Gibbs grabbed the file and started flicking through the information, once he read the brief over view he looked up, stunned. "How the hell didn't we know about this?"

"The file was sealed, partly due to his age but mostly because strings where pulled." Tobias informed.

"Is that the reason I have never had Timothy's complete medical records?" Ducky inquired.

"Apparently so." Vance replied, "It would appear our agent has some secrets."

"More than you may think Director." Ducky replied as he looked at Gibbs.

"You think there's a connection?" Gibbs asked.

"Not necessarily, but I think it might be why I don't believe young Timothy told me everything." Ducky responded before turning his attention back to the rest of the group. "As I was just about to tell Jethro, Timothy told me something in confidence about a year ago…

*****Flashback*****

It was late, or rather early depending on your view point as the clock indicated that it had just gone midnight; the bullpen was quiet and mainly dark as Ducky exited the elevator intent on leaving his findings on Gibbs' desk before leaving for the night, which was why the medical examiner was shocked by his findings. Timothy McGee was so deeply engrossed in what he was working he hadn't registered Ducky's arrival.

"Damn it!" Tim shouted at the computer.

"Timothy? What on earth are you doing here at this ungodly hour?" Ducky enquired startled by the younger man's reaction.

"Huh…Oh hey Ducky didn't see you there." Tim replied startled.

"Obviously not young man, what is keeping you so late since everyone else is already gone?"

"Err… it's err" Timothy stumbled; uncertainty filled his eyes that the medical examiner hadn't seen for a good few years in the younger man.

"Whatever it is Timothy you can tell me."

"It's kind of personal Ducky." Tim informed quietly.

"Is it something I can help with?"

"Err…okay but please don't tell Gibbs or worse Vance!" Timothy pleaded.

"Heavens Timothy if it's personal then, not just as your friend, but as your doctor we can keep it between us."

"Oh, that's good, that real good." Timothy said with relief as he ran his hands through his hair.

"So…..?" Ducky encouraged.

"Oh yeah right" Tim laughed lightly, but what he said next completely stunned the older man "I'm trying to find out who my real parents are."

*****Flashback interruption*****

"Wait a minute, his real parents?" Tony questioned shocked.

"Anthony please let me finish" Ducky implored.

*****Flashback resumed*****

"Whatever are you talking about Timothy?" Ducky questioned.

Timothy hung his head for a moment, before looking up again. "When I was younger, something happened, I don't remember the specifics, but I went to live with my uncle and his wife, or rather then man I thought was my uncle."

"Admiral John McGee?"

"Yes, but it turns out he's not my uncle, actually we're not even related."

"And how do you know this Timothy?"

"We, err we kind of had an argument." Tim admitted.

"About?"

"About the Navy and the fact that I didn't want to join, turns out that my aunt, well not my aunt but the woman I thought was my aunt promised the man I thought was my father to take me in and to keep the secret, right before….right before he died." Timothy choked out the last words.

"Timothy just call them your aunt, uncle and father, after all that's what you believed them to be." Ducky suggested

"Yeah but they weren't were they? I don't know who I am Ducky, I'm not a McGee, but I don't have anything to tell me who I am; I've been looking for years and everything I've tried just keeps hitting a brick wall."

"Hence you're frustration when I walked in." Ducky surmised.

"Yep, yet another dead end."

*****End Flashback*****

"Timothy went on to tell me that he knew his birth mother had died giving birth to him, Patrick McGee had apparently informed his younger brother John that he was aware the Timothy wasn't his child, due to the fact he was unable to have children, but was going to raise the boy as his own. The brother apparently hadn't agreed, Patrick went ahead anyway having his name put on the birth certificate."

"For five years the woman Timothy thought was his aunt managed to stop John from telling Timothy anything, but during the heated argument over the fact that Timothy didn't want to join the Navy, John McGee let the truth slip and ever since Timothy turned the legal age of twenty one he's been trying to find the slightest clue as to who his father might really be."


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you all for the wonderful reviews, I am glad you're enjoying this story.

Would also like to thank gottahavemyncis for her support and being my beta!

******Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**The Meaning of Blood**

**Chapter 6**

"I just can't believe it, you know?" Tony stated, he was trying to wrap his head around everything that had taken place since the early hours of the morning. It was now late evening and team Gibbs were the only ones left in Tim's room.

Ducky and Palmer had left to oversee the arrival of a couple of new guests, the cases of which had been given to other teams, while Vance, after arranging the protection detail, had gone back to the Yard to rattle a few cages before calling it a day. Tobias and Ron were currently at the canteen, they had been the last of the group to go as they would take it in turns, ensuring that someone was in the room with Tim at all times.

"Believe what Tony?" Ziva questioned, she could tell something was bothering him but could not quite put her finger on what it was. For his part, Gibb's was all too aware of DiNozzo's struggle to accept what they had been told, as he too battled with the new knowledge that his youngest agent had not only survived a badly timed robbery which resulted in a massacre, but had never had the family upbringing they had all assumed.

Tony struggled with his emotions as he explained what he meant. "Things were different for him, normal even, compared to the rest of us, that's what he led us to believe."

"No Tony, he didn't." Gibbs responded quietly, as he continued to watch Tim and the monitor readings. "We took his quiet, no fuss making to mean he didn't have any problems."

"We assumed you mean; looks like we all broke that rule boss." Tony stated sadly.

"Yeah, yeah we did." Gibbs sat back, turning to face the other members of his team, letting his pride in his youngest agent show through. "Not only did he survive what turned into a massacre, but he saved a two year old girl in the process."

"McGee has always been stronger than what he appears," Ziva commented "and yet he never allows himself to believe it."

"Yeah, what about that our McGee, a little hero" Tony beamed, he and Ziva had now completely read the filed which was filled with witness reports and the script from a young McGee's witness interview, the reasoning behind his partner's almost irrational need to protect Sarah now completely obvious. "Boss, shouldn't we get in touch with Sarah?"

"Vance offered to make the call back at the office." Gibbs replied as he thought back to the private conversation he and the Director had had before the man left for the evening.

*****Flashback*****

"If Doctor Mallard is correct, Agent McGee has been using NCIS equipment for personal reasons Gibbs, that is not acceptable!" Vance lectured as the two of them stood outside Tim's room, so they were out of earshot of the rest of the group.

"In his own time Leon! For god's sake give the kid a break." Gibb growled back, he wasn't about to let the Director punish his agent for trying to find out who his father was.

"You're just expecting me to sweep this under the carpet? There are consequences for this type of behaviour." Vance reminded him.

"Hey you're all for it when it comes to your own problems, not to mention it's also against policy to have personal agendas. Just remember that's one of the reasons he's fighting for his life right now, or do I need to remind you about the ongoing battle with Lee Waun Kai that's just ended or have you already forgotten about that!" Gibbs retaliated.

"Fine, you win." Vance caved as he winced from the reminder at how close they had come to losing the young agent because of his and Kai's obsession with one another.

"Besides he's not done anything illegal, he's just been doing research and background checks on the men he has found to have had any sort of contact with his mother! It's not like he can just go up to them in the street and ask them outright, is it?" Gibbs pointed out, as he ran his fingers through his hair, before he explained to Vance the situation regarding Tim's health, just like it had with Gibbs earlier in the day, the news left the Director shocked and Gibbs pressed home his advantage.

"Bottom line, we need to find his father, or a close male blood relative, so it is time for us to step in. You know him well enough to know that he'd never ask this for himself, hell the fact that up until a year ago he had been trying to do this alone tells you that! We need to run his DNA and compare it with every database out there."

"Even if we do that, there's still no guarantee that we will find anyone." Vance reasoned "I'm going to head back to the office to rattle a few cages, then go home and make sure Jackie and the kids are alright."

It was a stark reminder that it had been a family member that had shot Lee Waun Kai dead that got Gibbs to also back off and reminded the man that Tim also had family that needed to know what happened. "One more favour, see if you can get in touch with Tim's sister Sarah and I suppose you better contact the Admiral."

"Yeah, Yeah I'll see what I can do on that too. What are we going to use for a DNA comparison?" Vance enquired

"We all keep spare toiletries at work, I believe McGee keeps his in bottom draw, there's probably a toothbrush or comb which we could uses to get a sample from that Leon."

"Alright, I'll ask the temp that's standing in for Miss Sciuto, what's her name….err…Oh yeah, Delilah Fielding, and have her start processing it, hopefully we will have some news in the morning." Vance informed.

"I appreciate this Leon." Gibbs called out after the man, as the Director walked down the hall, only to get a dismissive wave of the hand back, before he returned to Tim's room.

*****End Flashback*****

Ron and Tobias's return pulled Gibbs from his musings, looking at the faces of everyone in the room, he decided to call it a day, laying out exactly what he expected from them all, with the help of Balboa's and Taylor's teams they had enough to have an agent outside and one in the room at all times.

The day shifts would be four hours in rotation, Tony taking the first starting at nine in the morning and Ziva the last of the day, meaning that they would also still be able to work in the office together. Gibbs was taking the eight hour night shift personally; that meant that two others were going to be needed for the in room protection detail. Gibbs had chosen Balboa and with a little persuasion from the man himself, his probationary agent Dorneget, but only on the proviso that a stronger agent would be outside the door during his shift, even though Tim was becoming good friends with Dorneget, Gibbs wanted a more experienced agents on his protection detail.

Tobias and Sacks were going to be working with them but Gibbs wanted them concentrating on the case more than anything so he left them out of the protection detail, which they both seemed to understand. Ducky, Palmer and Vance of course would come and go throughout the day, as their schedules allowed, though Gibbs was certain Ducky would make sure that he and his assistant would be there at different times. Doctor Pitt had informed them that he had managed to clear his schedule as much as possible and would be regularly checking in on Tim, along with the nurses.

Now all they could do as far as Tim was concerned was wait, so with the others gone for the night Gibbs picked up Tim's previously sealed file and started reading it again, noting down points of interest and things to look into in closer detail once he got to the office.

NCIS

Vance had been in the office about an hour already and knew that Gibbs was on his way in from the hospital having been relieved by Agent DiNozzo, so he was hoping to get some news for the other man before he started demanding answers.

"Miss Fielding." Vance greeted as he stepped in to the quiet lab; it was so different to the blasting music that normally greeted his ears. Delilah Fielding may have only been filling in for Abby Sciuto but her work and record spoke volumes; he was really hoping that he would be able to talk her into transferring to the Navy Yard.

"Good morning Director." Delilah Fielding replied, looking up from what she was currently working on.

"Have you been here all night Delilah?" Vance questioned, noting how tired Abigail Sciuto's stand-in was looking.

"Yes actually, what with the double murder cases Cooper's team caught yesterday, Sharp's team's on-going stabbing and the evidence from yesterday's events, there's quite a backlog I'm afraid." Delilah sighed, just as the computer beeped. "Ah, that should be the DNA results."

Delilah turned and headed for the computer, Vance watched as the looks of confusion and surprised washed over her features as she looked over the findings from the DNA test results, before she turned to him with a puzzled look on her face.

"Problem?" Vance queried.

"That depends Director." Delilah answered cryptically.

"On what?" Vance questioned, the reply to which left him stunned, "On how you feel about family members working together on the same team."


	7. Chapter 7

Again I would like to thank gottahavemyncis for her support, encouragement and for being my beta!

******Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 7**

Gibbs made his way to headquarters tired but thankful that his youngest agent had made it through the night. Tim's monitor readings that had been just a couple of points above the red line had crept up another couple of notches and Brad had been quietly optimistic when he had come to check on Tim, just before DiNozzo had arrived.

Having to slow down to sign-in gave the Head of Security, Charlie Evans, the opening he was obviously hoping for.

"Gibbs" Charlie greeted. "What's the news?"

"He's hanging in there Charlie." Gibbs replied, as the pair went through the standard entry procedure.

"Good, that's good." Charlie replied, the relief in his voice obvious. "He's a good kid that one."

"Yeah, yeah he is." Gibb replied with a smile, as he noted down who was already in.

NCIS

"What exactly are you telling me Miss Fielding?" Leon Vance enquired.

"Director Vance, Sir, you have two agents on the MCRT that have the correct number of allele's in common to indicate that they are related." Delilah Fielding said, reading the information directly from the printout she had picked up seconds before.

"Related how, exactly?" Leon queried as he rubbed his hand over his face, he was already sensing the start of a headache and with this new information had a feeling it was only going to get worse.

"Brothers sir" Delilah replied, nervously.

Knowing what he did about Anthony DiNozzo Senior, given the fact that the man's notorious reputation proceeded him everywhere, Vance automatically jumped to the conclusion that seemed most likely "Agents DiNozzo and McGee are brothers?"

"No Sir" Delilah replied "Agents Gibbs and McGee."

NCIS

"Sitrep!" Gibbs barked as he entered the MRCT section of the bullpen, enjoying how the agents gathered there all gave a little jump, as none of them had seen him coming.

"Don't do that Jethro." Tobias complained as he recovered from the surprise, of course they had been expecting the man, but not for a few more minutes at least.

Ziva on the other hand, being used to the way Gibbs worked, went straight to business indicating towards the plasma, pictures appearing as she spoke. "Jason Everett, former Chief Petty Officer, had hopes of becoming a Navy SEAL as he was brought up on a farm and was familiar with all types of guns. However, he was rejected by the SEAL sniper training program so went into regular service. He was thrown out of the Navy in June of 1987 after a serious altercation with a senior officer."

"Serious, how?" Gibbs demanded, as he studied the pictures of the man being discussed, the first obviously from his Navy days, showing a redheaded man, with a chiselled chin in navy attire; the second a much old man in an orange jumpsuit looking almighty unhappy with the world.

"Serious enough that he, along with about four others involved in the same incident were thrown out of the Navy – all of them claiming unfair dismissal" Balboa answered before taking over the report being given. "Three months later, short on cash from being unable to get any other work, they decided to hit the bank at Annapolis, next to the Navy's fleet support and family centre on payday."

Now it was Sack's turn to pick up the narrative, "The support centre had multiple events happening that morning so many of the family members were going in and out of the bank. Jason Everett and his crew mates hit the bank at 10 am; with the bank open for business there were multiple hostages and according to witness statements all hell broke loose from the moment the five entered. The whole thing lasted just under an hour, with a quickly assembled team of FBI and NIS agents swarming the building to take back control."

"However there were multiple casualties; civilian, naval and federal agents included in the dead and injured. Three of the five robbers died as a result, another died of his injuries on route to the hospital, leaving Jason Everett to carry the can so to speak." Tobias Fornell rounded off the tale. "Tony has taken the prison records with him to the hospital, hopefully that may shed some light on why Everett has personally singled McGee out."

NCIS

"Come again." Vance ordered, his voice filled with scepticism over what he had just heard.

Delilah Fielding swallowed hard before speaking. "Director according to this report Agent Gibbs and McGee have the same biological father."

"If this is some kind of Joke, Miss Fielding, I'm not finding it very funny." Vance informed as his anger visibly rose.

"No…no joke Sir!" Delilah gulped at what the Director was implying.

Realising his mistake, Vance mumbled his apologises as he held his hand out for the piece of paper that Delilah had been reading from, noticing how nervously she handed it across.

"How is that even possible?" Vance enquired, as he read the readout for himself.

Delilah Fielding opened and shut her mouth several times, thrown off by the question she thought had such an obvious answer, as she attempted and failed to explain that very fact, all the while wondering if she really needed to explain about the birds and the bees to the Director of NCIS of all people.

"Never mind Miss Fielding, forget I even asked." Vance stated, shaking his head, before he turned and walked out of the lab.

NCIS

"That's all very well and good Tobias, but it doesn't how exactly explain how, the McGees fit into all this, other than the fact they were there and Tim managed to hobble out holding his cousin Sarah McGee." Gibbs retorted, the file had already given him an outline of the events that took place inside the bank during the fifty three minute siege; however, none of that explained what his youngest agent had been doing there or why he had been injured.

"According to the records Patrick McGee and his son Timothy lived on the other side of the country in Alameda California, at the time, so why were they so far from home?" Gibbs questioned. No one in the room was able to give the man the answers he was looking for, but it was at that precise moment that Vance entered the bullpen. "With me Gibbs."

NCIS

For almost an hour Tony had been sat quietly reading the prison records for Jason Everett that he had brought with him that morning. Whilst watching over his friend and colleague, Agent Branning a well-seasoned agent, was on duty outside the door, so even though he was alert, Tony was able to concentrate on the information he was working through.

A change in the monitor's beeping brought Tony's attention up from the file, taking in the wave pattern of the heartbeat, going across the screen everything appeared normal, then the line faltered as the machine's beeping increased.

"No, no, no Probie don't you dare!" Tony exclaimed as he jumped instantly to his feet. Two steps and he was next to the bed, smacking his hand hard against the call button above the headboard of the bed, just as the line on the monitor went completely flat.

NCIS

"I don't have time for sick jokes Leon!" Gibbs growled as he leaned over the director's desk getting close to invading the man's personal space. He had followed the other man into his office, where the man in question proceeded to lay out the discovery.

"Do I look like I'm joking _Agent_ Gibbs!" Vance roared back, ensuring he made sure the other man knew who was in charge, as he slammed down a copy of the results in front of Gibbs.

Snatching up the paper quickly before he took a step back, Gibbs found himself falling backwards into one of the chairs in front of the Directors desk, as he read the results for himself. For several moments the room was quiet as Vance watched Gibbs reaction, the expressions of disbelief and shock quickly intermixed with betrayal, frustration and anger.

Just as it looked like Gibbs is working his way up to speak again, Vance's assistant did something completely out of character when she barged into the room, in a frantic state, talking without waiting to be asked "Agent DiNozzo's on line two!"

Vance immediately put the phone on to speaker before connecting with the line stated, as his assistant left the room as quickly as she had entered, DiNozzo didn't even give the Director a chance to speak, throwing his question out first, the worry and concern in his voice obvious to both men.

"Is Gibbs with you Director?"

"I'm here DiNozzo." Gibbs replied, immediately becoming concerned.

"Is there a problem Agent DiNozzo?" Vance demanded.

"McGee's back in theatre, they really don't think he's going to make it. We need to find his real dad, like now!"

The moment Gibbs heard that McGee was back in theatre, he was out of his chair and heading for the door, pulling his phone out as he went.

"We've found him, Agent DiNozzo and help is on the way." Vance informed as he watched Gibbs storm from his office.

"Director, how?" Tony questioned clearly confused.

"Not my story to tell, but rest assured everything will be explained in due course Agent DiNozzo. We will both be with you shortly." Vance informed before he cut the call and prepared to leave his office.

NCIS

"Ducky need you at Bethesda, now!" Gibbs barked into the phone the moment the call connected, as he rushed down the stairs into the bullpen, grabbing at the keys that were on his desk whilst he signalled to Ziva to come with him, he didn't even give the medical examiner a chance to answer before he hung up.

Vance rushed down the stairs and joined him, just as Gibbs entered the elevator already dialling a different number, whilst simultaneously handing the car keys over to Ziva who had been just a step behind, as he waited for the call to connect. "Hey dad, yeah it me…..listen, something's has come up, I'm fine but we need you here…."


	8. Chapter 8

Again I would like to thank gottahavemyncis for her support, encouragement and for being my beta!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 8**

Ziva David was becoming increasingly concerned, not only had the journey to the hospital been done in total silence after the phone call to his father, she noticed that Gibbs had taken a moment to school his features upon seeing the young woman who was with Anthony DiNozzo in the waiting room.

"Hey boss." Anthony DiNozzo greeted, as he indicated the young woman. "Look at who has just arrived."

"Sarah." Gibbs acknowledged knowingly, allowing her to slip into a comfortable embrace.

Having travelled separately, Ducky's timely arrival stopped any questions that were about to be asked by either Sarah, Tony or Ziva.

Receiving a telling tilt of the head from Gibbs, Ducky made a tactful request, "Jethro, I'm going to go find out what's happening with young Timothy, would you care to join me?"

"Yeah, Duck I would." Gibbs replied as he released Sarah before nodding towards DiNozzo, giving him the look that told the senior field agent exactly what he was expected to do: _'stay here and look after Sarah_.' Seeing DiNozzo's understanding, he quickly followed Ducky out of the waiting area and down the hall.

NCIS

"Really, Jethro I understand your concern but rushing here just because young Timothy has gone back into theatre isn't the answer." Ducky stated the moment the door to the waiting room closed.

"Not the reason I called you down here Ducky." Gibbs replied, handing over a piece of paper. The whole journey from headquarters, Gibbs had been trying to work out how this scenario had come about, yet alone how he was going to tell everyone about it, especially his father.

Admittedly, at first he had been confused and angered by what he had learnt. However the more he thought about it the more he realised from knowing his father way he did, that there was no possible way that Jackson knew anything about Tim being his son.

Knowing the gravity of the situation regarding his youngest agent's not… correction's brother's condition, Gibbs had decided it was best to inform Ducky first; after all his father would not arrive for a couple more hours.

Ducky studied the information on the piece of paper handed to him before he looked up at Gibbs in shock. "Oh my word…."

"Yeah." Gibbs replied obviously lost in thought.

Watching Gibbs for a moment Ducky realised that Gibbs was still in shock, and decided to take control of the situation on behalf of his long-term friend and colleague.

NCIS

"Okay, that was weird!" Tony DiNozzo stated the moment Gibbs and Ducky had vanished from the waiting room, leaving the director and his escorts' arrival to go unnoticed.

"Agreed." Ziva replied. "Gibbs did not say a word one word on the way here."

"He's a man of few words, Ziva. Surely you realise this, by now." Tony responded in jest; however Ziva did not appreciate Tony's attempt to lighten the mood.

"Something is seriously wrong, Tony!" Ziva retorted.

"Hey, why don't you try telling me something I don't already know?!" Tony snapped back

"How about that Gibbs' practically summoned his father here; I haven't heard him speak that way to Jackson since the first time we met him." Ziva answered, nonplussed by the raising anger she heard from her partner.

Completely thrown by Ziva's comment it took a moment for Tony answer back "Why would he send for Jackson?"

"Right, that's enough, you two." Vance stated with authority, causing the two agents to jump before they turned their attention to him. With Sarah McGee present it wasn't the time to go into detail about what had been discovered especially since they didn't know how much she knew. There was also the fact that he didn't want to be the one to tell them, so he decided to put an end to the discussion before it got started. "This is not how I expect my agents to behave."

"Apologies Director." Ziva acknowledged with a tilt of her head.

"Sorry, sir." DiNozzo responded before he realised that the Director and the woman they thought of as Tim's sister had never been officially introduced. "Sarah, let me introduce you to Leon Vance, director of NCIS."

NCIS

"How can this be, Ducky?" Gibbs questioned distractedly.

"Really Jethro, I'm sure you do not need me to draw you a diagram." Ducky smirked.

"Not exactly what I meant and you know it." Gibbs stated as he shook his head trying to concentrate which he was finding hard to do with so many questions running through his head.

"Well I guess that would be a discussion for you and Jackson, when he arrives, Jethro." Ducky replied.

"I know for a fact that neither Jackson nor I have this rare blood type Duck, McGee….Tim has." Gibbs informed, correcting himself over the use of the young man's given name.

"Well then Jethro it may have come from his mother's side of the family, or skipped a couple of generations in your own family, but for the moment at least you are the closest male relative we have."

"Uh-huh." Gibbs responded, obviously back in deep thought.

Ducky shook his head before guiding Gibbs further down the corridor, he had only seen the man in this kind of state once before, but right now they had no time to lose if they were going to be able to help Timothy.

NCIS

Jimmy Palmer walked into the lab, having gone looking for anyone who could explain to him where his mentor had suddenly disappeared to. Admittedly the lab was a last resort, normally when Abby was around it was always his first port of call, but as he had been unable to find anyone in the bullpen that knew what was going on, he had absentmindedly wondered down there.

"Oh…..err… hi… err….Delilah, right?" Jimmy stumbled.

"That's me, can I help you with something?" Delia asked as she turned to face him, plastering on a fake smile.

"Maybe…. You wouldn't know where everyone's…. gone…. would you?" Jimmy question before he noticed the state Delilah was in. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine" Delilah lied

"No you're not." Jimmy replied as he stepped forward. "What's wrong?"

"I don't think the Director's very happy with something I had to tell him and I'm worried about the effect it's going to have." Delilah informed.

"What did you tell him?"

NCIS

Before he could really register what was going on, Leroy Jethro Gibbs found himself alone in a small room just off to one side of the ICU unit, sitting in a chair with a needle embedded in his arm.

"Ah Jethro, are you back with us?" Ducky questioned as he walked back in to the room carrying two large steaming mugs.

"Yeah, Duck, sorry must have spaced out for a moment." Gibbs replied.

"Perfectly understandable, my friend, you've had quite a shock." Ducky reasoned as he handed over a cup.

"That's an understatement." Gibbs responded flippantly.

"Yes, well, the real question is what you are going to do about it?" Ducky enquired.

"Looks like you've already made that decision for me, Duck." Gibbs retorted, indicating towards the needle, careful not to spill his coffee.

"Unfortunately, at the moment time is of the essence Jethro." Ducky reminded. "I've managed to have a quick conversation with Brad; it appears Timothy spleen had a slow bleed that was missed in all the mess caused to his intestines, they managed to repair it and he'll be back in his room shortly."

Gibb nodded, before he indicated to the needle again and the bag of blood being collected. "Is this really going to help?"

"Hopefully yes Jethro, however as I explained yesterday little is known with regard to this. But as you have a familial match Timothy shouldn't reject it. Once we've extracted the blood we will put it through Plasmapheresis and then inject the extracted plasma into Timothy." Ducky informed.

Both men went quiet for a while, taking their time to enjoy their favoured beverage, after a few minutes Ducky tried again "So any thoughts on what you are going to do, Jethro?"

"About what Ducky?"

"What I meant, as you well know, is what you are going to do after the current situation with young Timothy has been resolved." Ducky replied knowingly.

"Honestly, not a clue." Gibbs replied, "Out of all of the team, he's never needed me. Hell I can't explain it; Tony, Ziva and Abby are open books, their family issues were obvious. It felt different with Tim, like he didn't require that kind of attention from me."

"And yet you still felt the need to protect him." Ducky reflected.

"You noticed that huh?" Gibbs smirked.

"Hard not to Jethro, what with Timothy being the one you seemed to constantly leave behind, though with this news…" Ducky's voice drifted off.

"Yeah, that's how everyone's going to see this, isn't it? Hell in a few weeks it won't matter that we didn't know, everyone will see it as favouritism."

"Strange considering that's the one thing you have never shown towards Timothy." Ducky stated.

"What the hell is that supposed, to mean!" Gibbs growled.

"Young Timothy may never have needed you like the others Jethro, but it is obvious to anyone who takes the time to look that that young man idolises you, exactly the way a younger sibling would look at an older brother and yet despite everything he has accomplished he's always been the last one you gave any thought too."

NCIS

Once the introductions were over Leon Vance got straight to the point, keeping up the pretence that they didn't know differently. "Sarah, we need to contact your parents; could you give me a contact number? For some reason Tim's file only has your contact details."

"Not really much point, they won't come anyway." Sarah informed sadly.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 9**

"What we got?" Tobias asked as he returned to NCIS having been to update his own Director.

"Well the evidence on the bank robbery just arrived from archives, Balboa said to meet him in the lab apparently there's video." Sacks informed.

"Oh great, so now we have to deal with Abby Sciuto, actually thinking about it I'm surprised she's here and not at the hospital." Tobias replied.

"Actually Abby's not even in the country, her cover is Delilah Fielding, Jimmy Palmers with her at the moment helping out."

"Okay then let's get down there."

NCIS

"May I ask as to why?" Vance questioned, taken aback by Sarah McGee's statement regarding her parent's.

Not knowing that Tim's team already knew that they weren't actually brother and sister, Sarah nervously bit at her lower lip.

"Sarah, you have nothing to worry about." Ziva reassured the younger woman, before glancing over to Vance in what he thought was seek permission to inform her what they already knew, however Ziva surprised him by asking a question instead. "Sarah do you remember anything about the bank robbery that happen when you were little?"

"You know about that?" Sarah asked surprised.

"Found out yesterday." Tony informed, he had taken the seat on the other side of the younger woman. "Why don't you tell us what you know?"

Sarah looked between the three before starting. "In answer to your question Ziva, I don't remember any of it, I know what I was told growing up and what I found out later to be the truth…"

"What do you mean what you were told?" Vance questioned, as he finally sat down, having pulled a chair over so it was directly opposite Sarah.

Sarah sighed before getting a really faraway look in her eyes. "Dad always puts Tim down, did you know that? Always telling him that he was weak and pathetic. Anyways it took Tim years to get over what happened that day at the bank, though thinking about it now he probably never really has gotten over it."

"Sarah, what were you told?" Tony asked

"Look you have to remember was that I was only seven when Tim left home, all I remember as a kid was the constant arguments between dad and mum or dad and Tim. When Tim left for MIT, whenever I stayed with dad, he was constantly telling me to forget about him, that it was all his fault that Uncle Patrick got killed but it wasn't, it was mine."

"Sarah you were only two." Tony reminded.

"Yeah, and you know what they say about two year olds…" Sarah continued.

"Oh I've heard of those, they are the treble twos." Ziva jumped in excitedly.

"Terrible, Ziva, terrible twos." Sarah giggled, and from the sly smile on her face Vance and Tony knew Ziva had purposely got it wrong to help Sarah relax and it appeared to work as she continued. "Well according to mum I was going through them big time….."

"About your mum, where was she when your dad was telling you what happened?" Tony interrupted.

"Mum moved out just after Dad and Tim had a massive argument about Tim not wanting to join the navy, they got a divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences, something else dad blames Tim for. Anyways, they agreed on joint custody of me as part of the divorce settlement and though I mostly lived with Mum, whenever Dad was home I'd stay at his place."

"So what, you didn't question what your dad told you?" Tony queried disbelief evident in his voice.

"At seven no not really; I was a daddy's girl, his little princess, and I wasn't willing to give that up so it wasn't until just before my teens that I really started asking questions. You see for the first few years every time I brought up the subject Mum didn't want to talk about it; it was only when Tim came for a visit when he was between MIT and John Hopkins that Mum told me the truth." Sarah's voice trailed off.

"Why? Why did she suddenly decide to tell you the truth, Sarah?" Vance prompted.

NCIS

The video was old style due to the age of the case and only in black and white, but it clearly showed the robbers entering the bank, forcing the customers up against the counter. They quickly identified a young and scared Timothy McGee huddled close to a man they guessed was Patrick as the customers were forced to kneel on the floor. After a few moments the video jumped and Tim was, for a few seconds, nowhere to be seen, then he crawled slowly and carefully from the bottom of the screen back towards Patrick who was giving him an encouraging smile, until he was close enough to be pulled in for a hug.

"Wait, stop - run that again." Tobias requested, they hadn't been watching the bank's video for long.

"Okay?" Delilah sound confused. "Mind if I ask you why?"

"Time stamp jumped." Tobias told her.

"So?" Delilah probed, as she rewound the tape until the image was back to where it showed the robbers entering the bank.

"So we need to figure out how much time passed." Tobias educated the temporary lab tech.

"Tim re-started the video." Jimmy stated, amazed.

"Looks that way." Tobias replied. "Brave thing for a ten year old to do."

"Okay looks like twelve minutes plus or minus a few seconds, past between the stopping and starting." Ron said after paused the video again having had taken the control unit from Delilah and replayed it a couple more times.

"Okay so that's means we're twenty minutes into the robbery, so let see what else happened." Balboa stated.

NCIS

"I had been staying with my dad, for the weekend, before Tim arrived, so I started spouting off at him the moment he arrived. Tim kept stuttering, that's something else you can blame my dad for by the way. Anyway he kept trying to telling me I was wrong, but I wouldn't listen, well not until Mum stepped in and told me what actually happened."

"Dad won't come because he still won't accept the truth, Mum won't come because she can't stand the reminders. You see Uncle Patrick didn't die until three days after the bank robbery, Mum hates hospitals, just as much as Tim does, did you know that neither of them left his side after his emergency operation? Tim literally watched his dad die."

"No Sarah we didn't." Ziva informed, knowing looks from Tony and Vance told her that just as she had, they had picked up on what Sarah was obviously still in the dark about.

"Well now you do." Sarah stated with finality, which told the others that she'd had enough of memory lane.

"I see, very well, is there anyone else that needs to be notified?" Vance asked.

"Not right now, Penny's out of town and it would be unfair to worry her when there's nothing she can do." Sarah replied, getting to her feet, it was obvious she was getting frustrated, as she started pacing. "Now could one of you please tell me how the hell this happened?!"

"It would probably be best if you sat down Sarah." Ziva said gently, as she guided Sarah back to the chairs near the window. Vance's phone buzzed; indicating he was stepping out he pointed silently from Tony to Sarah, silently telling him to explain.

"Thank you, so much." Tony muttered sarcastically as the doors closed behind the retreating man, before turning to see Sarah looking at him expectantly.

NCIS

Half an hour later Gibbs found himself sitting, subconsciously rubbing his arm, next to the bed in McGee's room, watching as Ducky and Brad Pitt consulted the charts whilst talking quietly, at the end of the bed. Patience had never really been his strong suit, but he was getting more and more agitated as he waited for the doctors to announce their latest finding following the last round of tests done shortly after the plasma extracted from his blood had been injected into Tim.

His mood hadn't been helped by Vance's announcement that his team was being pulled from the investigation and the FBI was now heading up the case, as a federal agent's shooting was by rights their jurisdiction, with Agent Balboa's team assisting.

_*****Flashback*** **_

"You've done what!" Gibbs shouted at Vance, as he met them in the hallway whilst they were making their way towards Tim's room, having been informed that his transfer back from theatre was complete.

"Hey! Last time I checked I was in charge of the agency." Vance retorted.

"He's a member of _my_ team, that makes it _my_ case, Leon." Gibbs growled back.

"You can't be involved in a case concerning your own brother, Gibbs. Now Fornell has agreed to work with Balboa's team and keep us posted, our own agents will continue with the protection detail."

"Well isn't that considerate of him." Gibbs growled unhappily.

"Jethro, the director has a point, let us just concentrate on Timothy, shall we?" Ducky reasoned.

"How is Agent McGee doing Doctor Mallard?" Vance inquired.

"As well as we can hope at this stage Director." Ducky informed. "These things take time and Timothy has a long road to travel, however before this incident he was in good health, that and his age stand in Timothy's favour."

"Very well, I need to head back, there are calls I need to make; keep me posted." Vance informed and instructed them at the same time.

As he walked away Gibbs called after him. "Hey, or when is the rest of McGee's family coming?"

Vance turned. "They're not, that's why I need to make some calls."

_*****End Flashback*****_

"Leroy?" The tentative use of his name pulled Gibbs out his musing, looking up he saw Jack standing just inside the doorway across the other side of the room, with a questioning look on his face.

"Hey Dad." Gibbs greeted as he got up, before moving around the bed and engulfing his father in a hug.

"So you going to tell me what's so damned important that I just had to drop everything and come here, now?" Jack questioned

"I think you better sit down, Dad" Gibbs informed.


End file.
